Sonatrach, an Algerian giant in the hydrocarbons sector, announced on November 7, 2023 its return to Libya, which it had left in 2014 due to “ security context » in a country which experienced two civil wars between 2011 and 2020.
2 mins
The Algerian oil group Sonatrach (National Company for Research, Production, Transport, Transformation, and Marketing of Hydrocarbons) is back in Libya. The company left the country in 2014 amid security fears. But this November 7, 2023, in a press release, the group announces that it will resume its activities there. A meeting was even held the next day to settle the final technical details.
Hydrocarbon-rich area
Sonatrach will once again exploit oil in Libya. The Algerian group announces more precisely to resume its activities in the Ghadamès basin, an area rich in hydrocarbons, on the border of Libya,Algeria and Tunisia.
This Tuesday, a delegation from the company met several officials from the Libyan national oil company. Objective: promote the bilateral partnership between the two entities.
Sonatrach stopped its operations in Libya for the first time in 2011, the year of the first Libyan civil war, before returning the following year. But, in 2014 – the year the second Libyan civil war began – the group left the country for good, citing a ” security context ” tense…
“ Improvement of the security situation »
But last December, the Libyan national company called on foreign oil companies to lift the state of force majeure due to “ improving the security situation “.
Since then, large groups like the Italian ENI or the British BP have returned to Libya. On the Sonatrach side, discussions have been underway for several months. In October 2022, the former CEO of the group even announced increasing its investments in the country to $200 million.
Read alsoAlgeria wants to double gas exports, after a record year 2022